A Moment of Magic

Sometimes you just have to stop whatever you're doing and make art. It is that simple. 

Which is exactly what I did, right in the middle of the hectic holiday goings-on. 

I made a few teensy books to stack inside a 4 cm Tall Glass Dome with Wood Base from Alpha Stamps because, why not? 

There's a bit of Dried German Statice, a metal jar, a spoon, a micro cabinet card, and a cup of hot cocoa all tucked under the glass dome with room to spare. Little snippets of paper are stuck in the books and shimmery stars are scattered around. Forgetting about the list of things to do and focusing on being creative was exactly what I needed to rejuvenate myself. There's something about miniature book making that is very rewarding. (Especially when you have oodles of collage sheets with loads of book covers to choose from!)

Ah. Tiny things are magical. Don't you agree?

Don't forget to create your own magic every day.

Supply List can be found HERE!

Holiday Cheer Miniature Room Box

 The weather outside isn't frightful, but I have chosen to stay inside to create a mini holiday scene. It's also Black Friday, so there is no way I'm leaving my house. I wore yoga pants all day and had noodles delivered from six blocks away. It was great. 

My newest project is a cheery miniature gift wrapping scene with rolls of paper, ribbon, scissors, and gifts!

There's a 1:12 Wardrobe - Shelves, an Unfinished Wooden Trestle Table, and a White Wall Shelf with Hooks inside the 7x7 Corner Room Box, plus a bunch of new boxes in all sorts of sizes - Tiny Rectangular Gift Boxes, Mini Bakery Boxes with Windows, and Chunky Gift Boxes. Boxes for days!

There's a few Mini Gift Wrap Boxes next to the wardrobe along with a Shiny Bright box of ornaments. I love that the gift wrap boxes are both white and tan. So easy to stamp or paint! The gift wrap rolls are bits of paper wound around a skinny dowel.

Look at this pretty wardrobe! I covered it with paper from the cheery Merry & Bright Custom 12x12 Paper Set. The door has been left off to show the bits and bobs inside. 

I've hung a festive garland along the top, used the lid to a 1-5/8 Inch Suitcase as a tray, and then proceeded to fill the shelves with teensy cute things like the Ceramic Snowman Tea Set.

The bottom shelf has an ornament box and a few white gift boxes waiting to be filled and wrapped. 

My favorite part of the project is the Mini Train Locomotive with Train Cars (it's The Gingerbread Express). The larger Mini Recipe Box makes a perfect card holder.

 

Creating this little room box was a delight even though I had to reassemble it after Tim the Enchanter knocked the entire thing over while I was taking pictures. He wonders why I don't use glue like a normal person. Then again, he probably wonders about a lot of things...

Happy holidays to you! And don't forget to GO HERE for the supplies from Alpha Stamps that were used in the Holiday Cheer room box!

Petite Paper Village Ornaments

 Here's a quick and easy project you can finish while also managing the holiday hustle. It involves simple cutting, folding, and gluing. That's it! The best part is you can make as many parts as you want and they can be hung on a tree, used as gift tags, or, for those adventurous crafters, cut out a bunch for an Advent calendar. So, what in the North Pole am I talking about? 

Tiny glassine envelopes with a surprise inside! 

 

See? Super easy! The ornament is nothing more than an envelope with a tag-shaped rectangle of scrapbook paper adhered to the front, followed by a red punched doily, then a holiday collage sheet image. There's a sprig of holly garland and a tiny red ribbon hot-glued on the top. I punched a little hole in the scrapbook tag before sticking it to the envelope so a length of baker's twine could be strung through. I had six finished in two shakes of a reindeer's tail.

Now for the fun part: what to put inside the envelope? I'm a sucker for paper toys of all kinds, I just love them. When Leslie asked if I would like a Miniature Paper Model Christmas Village, my reply was SEND THEM ALL! followed by a shocked cat emoji. She's probably used to that by now.

The tiny village would be especially festive surrounded by artificial snow and fairy lights. One ornament could be removed each evening, the building assembled, then placed in the snow. There are also people, animals, trees, and fences included on the model sheets, which are plenty of additions for a countdown calendar. 

Oh my, so cute!!

Oh my, so small!

I think I want to cut out all of the villagers and kitties now...hope you enjoyed the petite paper village ornaments!

Supplies Used:

Glassine Envelopes - 2-5/16 x 3-5/8 Inches

Mini Holly Leaf Garland

Tiny Advent Calendar Collage Sheet 

North Pole 12x12 Custom Paper Set

Eat, Drink, and Be Scary! - A Miniature Trick-or-Treat Delight

 I'm just going to cut to the chase. The Porch & Courtyard Scene Box from Alpha Stamps is a scream!!! It's a hefty 11 1/2" long x 11 1/2" wide by 13 1/2" tall kit with a raised porch, steps, and a courtyard! Did I mention the arbor covering the porch?? Wow. I love this thing.

There's tons of possibilities with the kit, but with it being October and all, there was no way I was going to do anything but a Hallowe'en project! My trick-or-treat porch looks like any old house you might come across in a neighborhood - silly decorations, tombstones in the yard, and a spooky skeleton a kid would warily creep up to to if they wanted any candy - but this scene box could be turned into an amazing haunted house. It would also be pretty cute decked out with Christmas decorations and lights...oh my, how long until Christmas??!

Speaking of lights, I used a few adorable Tiny Halloween Luminaries and a Mini String of Fairy Lights to illuminate the steps:

The rest of the string of fairy lights are tucked behind the silhouetted images under the porch. I had made similar kinds of window silhouettes many moons ago when we went all out with decorations for the house. The life-sized versions were spooky images cut from black plastic that were glued to white fabric, then hung in the windows. The mini versions in the windows are stamped images on Heavy Translucent Vellum. The bottom silhouettes are the Black Creepy Critters Set or Translucent Vellum - Alchemy Icons - Skull, Owl & Raven that have been taped to a frame made from Heavy Translucent Vellum and strips of wood.

I wanted the silhouettes to be interchangeable, so I made a frame that fits behind the bottom porch supports. It's made from coffee stirrers with Heavy Vellum glued to the back. 

The images are attached with tiny bits of double sided tape so they're easily removed.

There's a Miniature Foot Path LED Light in the yard that lights up too. I cut a rectangle of cardboard the same size as the front yard so the wires for the foot light could be threaded through to the battery pack that's hidden under the porch. The cardboard makes it easy to change out the light (and there's no wire running under the project!). 

There's the battery pack under the porch with all of the lights on:

and here you can see how I bent the fairy lights to follow the steps, leaving the lights bent upward for the luminaries:

The luminaries themselves are easy peasy. Punch a tiny hole in the bottom of the luminary. Cut one tiny rectangle from heavy vellum and two from orange cellophane. Glue the vellum to the back of the luminary, followed by the two cello pieces. The extra cello really helps to hide the bulb inside. Push the bulb through the hole in the bottom of the luminary.

Another little tip; chipboard pieces make great impromptu stands:

A Mini Sandwich Board Set holds up an Etched RIP Tombstone - Bat.

How about a few more photos of the project?

A Little Gable Box made the perfect place to hide candy from trick-or-treaters. Do they dare reach in to grab a few?

If the kids are brave enough to get passed Johnny Rotten, there's a table of goodies waiting to be eaten! Lots of candies, cookies, cupcakes, caramel apples, and ghoulish grog to wash it all down!

Miniature Flying Bats were hung from the arbor above the porch and some thin mossy twigs were tucked in here and there.

The yard went through several iterations before I decided a very simple cemetery scene would work out just fine. The Etched RIP Tombstone - Bat, Etched RIP Tombstone - 3D Angle, and Etched Cemetery Sign are easy enough to paint and plop in a project. I also chopped off the arm of a Plastic Skeleton for one of the graves. It's a classic Hallowe'en decoration. 

Finally, one last shot of those adorable luminaries! I kinda wish there had been more steps to the porch so I could've used all six luminary designs. Another day!

I hope your Hallowe'en night is full of frightfully delightful tricks and treats!

Don't forget to GO HERE to see all the fangtastic things used in the scene!